Digital marketing trends that look set to reign in 2016

Dare we say it? 2015 is nearing its end and whilst it’s been a fantastic year for delivering marketing innovation, it’s time to wave goodbye to the old and embrace the new. The savviest of brands, marketers and agencies are already looking to which trends are set to dominate the industry in 2016. Maintaining an ethos at being at the forefront of digital marketing innovation, AMA is intent on being one of the first to look at the digital marketing trends forecast to reign in next year.

Mobile will take-over from desktop

As Smart Insight’s Mobile Marketing Statistics 2015 show, the rise in both consumer and company adoption of mobile this year has been phenomenal.

The growing trend to get online on the move from the likes of smartphones and tablets, looks set to continue in the next year, so much so that Forbes has made the bold prediction that ‘mobile will completely dominate desktop.’

This means that in order to reach out to mobile users, websites need to be mobile-optimised and digital ad budgets will need to be more mobile-focused.

Video ads

Forbes has also predicted that video ads will start dominating the online marketing spectre in 2016. This is primarily due to the fact that Google is finally getting involved with in-SERP video advertising. This fact alone is testament that users, as Forbes writes, are becoming “more accepting of video ads online.”

Love them or loathe them, you can expect to see more and more video ads pop up when you’re online.

Virtual reality

As Hub Spot predicts, virtual reality technology will inevitably have a prolific impact on the way marketers engage consumers in 2016. In fact Hub Spot goes as far to say that businesses who fail to provide a virtual experience that essentially tell “360-degree stories” to prospective customers, are likely to see significant drops in sales.

Wearable technology

It has been estimated that the user adoption of wearable technology will be at 28 percent by 2016. As more and more people adopt wearable tech, it certainly looks certain that the Internet of Things will become a much bigger and more profitable tool, enabling brands and marketers to engage with consumers and prospective customers.

Looking beyond the search engines

It’s no secret that Facebook is already working on launching its own search engine. With social media rising in online prominence, it almost seems certain that marketers will have to look beyond the likes of Google, Yahoo and Bing, as a means to reach consumers through search engines.

If you require any advice or fancy a chat about any element of digital marketing, simply give the AMA team of digital marketing experts a call on 0113 322 6211.